The PSU Americanists Focus Group invites proposals for 15–20 minutepresentations on questions related to and stemming from the following question:What are the epistemologies at work in various discourses of imperialism,nativism, and domesticity in the Americas? Answers to this question may takea variety of approaches and foci, ranging from the intimately local (familydynamics) to the national, to the hemispherical (questions of indigenity,hybridity, etc.).

This is a conference principally of graduate students, by graduate students, forgraduate students. The purpose of the PSU Americanists Focus Group is toencourage interdisciplinary study and communication among graduate studentswhose academic research informs or is informed by the study of the Americas.

The goal is to gain a truly interdisciplinary perspective on social, historical,political, pedagogical, and literary work focused on belonging in the UnitedStates, Mexico, Central and South America, Canada, and the Caribbean. In theinterest of bringing together scholars who are working on similar issues, weinvite submissions of paper topics from all departments.

Logistics

The conference will be divided into panels which focus on particular issues.Each panel should have three papers and a moderator and may also have arespondent. Papers should be 15–20 minutes (or 8–9 double spaced pages) inlength. We invite submissions of whole panels and individual papers.

Panel Proposals: For proposal of closed panels (panels that have already organized theirparticipants and include three papers and a moderator), we ask that you submita 200-word abstract of the panel as a whole, how it relates to the conferencetheme, and the questions it wishes to examine. It must also include 200-wordabstracts of each of the papers and basic personal information about eachparticipant (university, department, year, etc.). We give preference to panelswhose participants are from different disciplines. Panels must have a moderatorand/or a respondent who will comment on the papers, briefly discuss theirconnections, and open up questions for the audience.

Paper Proposals: For individual papers, we ask that you include a 300-word abstractincluding a brief statement on the way that the paper relates to the conferencetheme, and possible panel topics (listed below) with which it might fit. We askalso that you include basic personal information (university, department, year,etc.)

Expenses:* There is no fee for this conference.* You must provide your own transportation.* We will try to provide informal accommodation at the homes of graduatestudents at Penn State University, but cannot guarantee housing. If you prefera hotel, we cannot assist you financially, but we can help you find one.* We will provide some meals for you banquet style, free of charge.* Audio-visual equipment (overhead, slide or laptop projectors; DVD players,VCRs, etc.) will be available free of charge for those requesting it in theirpaper or panel proposals.

Suggested Panel Topics:Mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion (cultural, political, historical, and/oraesthetic)Nativism, indigenismPan-AmericanismDomesticity and family practices, parenting and gender rolesReproduction and representationSpaces of home and/or nationMigration, immigrationTransnational labor and cultural identityColonization and neo-colonizationContact zones: native and non-native American encountersMapping diversityMaking and un-making American identityTransatlantic and/or transpacific circulationThe creole and the nationImperialismThe changing borders of the Americas

Grad student/faculty panel on professional development in Inter-Americanstudies.